Hagen - Im Tal der Nibelungen

As someone who grew up reading the source material and especially the interpretation by Hohlbein from the POV of Hagen, i have been waiting for a state of the art adaption of Song of the Nibelungs ever since I saw my first Lord of the Rings Movie. I never had high hopes it would get made because despite being one of the most influential historical epics of all time, hollywood has always been blissfully ignorant.

Now a european production has finally stepped in, and i am here for it!

The filmmaking is superb. The visuals are stunning. Everything looks realistic yet stylish, and the sword fights are down to earth yet filmed in a way that makes you feel the weight and impact of each strike.

Qualitiy of performances varies, but the main characters all deliver. Everyone has botteled up emotions to deal with, you know what they feel by looking in their eyes, everything is handled with a minimum of dialogue and a maximum of context to make you understand the driving forces behind each character. It does not feel like just another fantasy film, but more like a dark, tragic saga that hints but never 100% commits to the supernatural elements of its plot, similar to projects like "The Northman" by Robert Eggers or the "Hellblade" video game.

If you are into sagas and gritty medieval dramas, or if you are a fan of the source material like i am, this one is for you!